Star Trek: Sacrifices
by Lursmani
Summary: The 25th century. Milky Way galaxy is hurled in a conflict for dominance, ideals and survival. Alliances are fragile, the Federation has been militarised once more, and an enemy like no other threatens to forever take away freedom and peace. Follow the crew of the USS IVERIA who have sacrificed their dreams for the better good. Normal people whose lives were changed forever.


**Hey all. Nice to be back in writing... At least partially. I present to you a new story, a new adventure and new characters to love and hate. This story will take place during galaxy-wide events, as well as deal with personal stories of individual characters.**

**The characters are taken from my crew on Star Trek Online, so is the timeframe, canon and some events. The story, however will be more personal and much more flexible. Since STO is an RPG, the captain has the same name as me. However, this is not an SI.**

**This chapter may seem a little bit confusing for some, but that's because it's meant to be this way. This is sort of a "teaser" prologue. I took a risk of doing something like this, so let's see how it goes.**

**Also, I want to thank a very special person for motivating me to write this. I wouldn't have done this without her.**

"...Captain!"

The familiar deep voice echoed through Davit's head as he lay face first, confused on the floor. The cold metal touched the right side of his face, but he barely felt anything. His muscles refused to obey his commands, rendering him unable to move, or to talk, and the constant ringing in his ears didn't help much either.

"The captain's down!" The same voice alarmed...

"I'm on it, somebody cover my post!" A female shouted from afar. Davit was sure he knew who it was, but after trying to concentrate for a few difficult seconds, he gave up on remembering.

Suddenly, he felt someone touching his neck. "He's alive," he heard the now placid demeanour of the female voice near his ears, "but I need a medical tricorder!"

A few seconds later, Davit felt a sudden jolt of energy running through his body, causing his muscles to spasm for a second. Then, his body started obeying him again, and his senses started coming back. The echoed muffling separated into distinct sounds of sparks, fire, explosions, people exchanging sharp exclamations with each other… He tried to stand up, but realising he was still too weak for this, stood on all fours, lifting his head to look at the closest person to him. A young woman in a blue and black uniform had crouched beside him, placing her hand on his back, trying to help him.

"Wh... Where am I?" he asked, still trying to regain awareness of the situation.

"We're on the bridge of U.S.S. Iveria, captain. Do you know who I am?" the young woman asked, scrambling for the medical kit on the ground.

Davit looked carefully at the woman's face, and suddenly it all started to come back. Mustering all his strength, he grabbed the closest chair to him and slowly crawled into it, groaning. The woman standing in front of her was lieutenant Ibelay, his science officer, a middle-aged Trill with dark brown short hair.

"Lieutenant Ibelay, science officer of the U.S.S. Iveria," he swept the room with his eyes again. "My memory seems to be fine, what happened?" it was time to get some answers.

Captain's energetic reply calmed Ibelay. "Glad you're OK," she smiled, "a conduit exploded near you, the shockwave threw you a few meters away and you hit your head. Nothing dangerous, just a concussion. A simple cortical stimulation fixed everything… for now."

"Wow, slow down there," the captain smiled at how fast Ibelay spouted these words. She always did this when she was under stress. "Thank you. " Only now he noticed that she was one of the few crewmembers on the bridge still able to stand. Most of the others had been either injured or transported away when the shields had been disabled for a few seconds during battle. The bridge was in a terrible shape: several fires, exposed conduits and exploded consoles composed most of it.

It was all clear now. They were in a battle against a Voth ambush. The enemies had overwhelmed the Iveria, she was losing the battle, and was critically damaged. Davit panicked for a second, but being the captain of this ship, swallowed the emotions and kept calm to boost morale.  
"Lieutenant Solan, damage report," he ordered, rushing toward the captain's chair.

"Hull integrity at twenty-one percent, shields at 43 percent, two-thirds of the crew is incapacitated, kidnapped or trapped," the Jem'hadar tactical officer responded, keeping his eyes on the viewscreen. "warp core containment stable, sensors mostly operational, only five torpedo tubes, two Antiproton heavy cannons and three beam arrays active. Heavy casualties on all decks."

"What about the Voth?"

"Three battlecruisers destroyed, five other ships and a city ship still operational, but cloaked," he stopped, "sir, I think they intend to board us."

This didn't sound good. U.S.S. Iveria was one of Starfleet's most advanced vessels, manned by some of the best officers, and this made it a good asset if it and its crew were captured. The ship had almost been destroyed in the battle, and the crew was in a critical condition. If the enemies board now, they won't be able to put up much of a fight. He had to buy as much time as he could...

"What's the status on the reinforcements?" He asked.

"U.S.S. Manhattan is inbound, but has engaged in combat with a Voth battlecruiser. They'll need a few more minutes." Solan replied sternly.

Suddenly, the turbolift doors opened with a smooth hiss. Everyone turned their heads to see who it was, only to be greeted by a familiar face they thought they'd never see again.

"T'laasa, glad to see you alive," the captain welcomed her with a smile, "we thought the turbolift you were in got vaporized."

"I was in the other turbolift," the Vulcan engineering officer replied, and entered the bridge. "I predict the crew's survival rate will be higher if we abandon ship. I recommend we do it now."

"Out of the question, commander. This ship and crew is too valuable to leave to the Voth. We have to survive until the reinforcements arrive. I need you man your station," he ordered, then looked at Ibelay, "you too, lieutenant. We have a mission to accomplish."

T'laasa stared at Davit for a second, but she knew the captain's mind was made up. "Yes, sir," she replied and walked to her station.

"If they want to board us they'll have to take our shields down again. We must not let that happen," she suggested.

"I recommend we try to escape the battle with minimal combat," Ibelay looked at the captain, awaiting the next instruction.

"Slipstream drive?" Davit pondered.

"Operational, but the hull has taken a lot of damage. Quantum stress will tear us to shreds," she replied. "We have limited warp drive, five minutes, maybe ten. I believe we can still use the asynchronous warp field too."

"The voth knew who they were dealing with, thats why they sent a whole fleet to take us out," Ixata'Solan's deep voice vibrated through the room, "we'll have to surprise them with something new."

"We will, lieutenant, just follow my orders, " Davit scratched his beard and took a deep breath… this was going to be very difficult. Then, in his usual commanding manner, he started giving out instructions. "Helm, plot a course for U.S.S. Manhattan, prepare to jump to warp and initiate Evasive Maneuver Omega Three, radius five kilometers. Solan, fire torpedoes at full spread to provoke them, we need to lure them out of their cloaks, then load the weapons to help out the Manhattan. T'laasa, eject warp plasma from the nacelles and reroute all power to the warp drive. Ibelay, create a scattering field around Iveria until we jump to warp," he paused, "Don't blow my ship up," he smiled, trying to lighten the mood, "or all of you will be demoted to crewman."

His attempt was met with a few chuckles around the bridge before everyone started executing the orders. Life returned to the room as the crew fussed around, manning their stations and putting in complicated commands in their consoles. The whole place was drowned in beeps and short commanding comments from all the officers.

Suddenly, an image of a reptilian humanoid appeared on the viewscreen. His face displayed clear anger. Everyone on the bridge stared at the screen and went quiet.

"Admiral Davit, I offer you the last chance. Surrender your vessel," the figure demanded, "you'll be taken to a tribunal and tried for violating Voth space, assaulting a Voth fleet and committing an act of war. Otherwise, I'll be forced to destroy your ship."

"Thanks for the offer, Captain," Davit replied with a stoic voice, "but I offer you a chance as well. Surrender, and you will be tried for assaulting a Federation colony, assaulting and kidnapping Federation starships, and violating Federation space," he looked over at T'laasa with a grin then looked back, "otherwise, I will be forced to apprehend you with force."

The voth captain growled angrily and leaned forward to retort, but Davit cut the communications before he could say anything. "Status report!" He ordered.

"Helm, ready," lieutenant Pyotr Onischenko, the helm officer stated.

"Engineering, ready," Commander T'laasa followed.

"Science, ready."

"Weapons loaded, and ready to fire."

"Very well," Davit leaned back in his chair, "all stations, execute."

The Iveria maneuvered in a circular pattern as a green, glowing substance was released from its nacelles creating a green cloud of warp plasma. Quantum torpedoes rained from the ship's torpedo tubes, detonating at random spots all around the Iveria.

Two torpedoes hit a cloaked ship, causing it to decloak and dealing serious damage to it. Soon after, the rest of the ships decloaked too and gave chase to Iveria, firing their Antiproton beams at it several times. Four of the ships got caught in the warp plasma cloud, causing their engines to shut down and rendering them unable to move.

"Voth city ship and a Palisade frigate, still on our six," Solan shouted as the ship shook from a recent torpedo hit.

"Helm, engage warp drive, maximum speed!" Davit ordered.

"Aye," Onischenko replied. The ship's nacelles charged up, and with a flash, the ship blasted of the spot.

"Warp seven... warp nine... warp nine point ninety nine. Engaging asynchronous warp field. Transwarp thirteen, Transwarp twenty one, Transwarp twenty six... maximum Transwarp. Hull integrity holding, ETA two minutes."

"Very good, ensign. Lt. Solan, target the voth Bulwark attacking the Manhattan and fire all weapons as soon as they're in weapons range. We need to help them before they can help us. Helm, drop out of warp after the Lt. fires, and get us close to the Manhattan."

"Aye," Solan replied. "Sir... if I may ask, what do you plan on doing once the Bulwark has been disabled?"

Davit pondered for a second, evaluating his options, at least those that he had... He only saw one way out of this situation. "Iveria is in no condition to continue battling," he said, "Manhattan is an Odyssey class ship. She can provide us with cover, while we give her firepower. We can't run, so we'll have to fight."

"Sir, I would recommend that Manhattan send engineering and science teams on Iveria to help with the repairs. Our crew is in a bad shape, we need all the help we can get," T'laasa suggested.

"Good idea," the captain agreed. "Transmit the plan to Manhattan."

"We'll be in weapons range in fifteen seconds," the helm soon announced.

"Mr. Solan..." the captain nodded at Ixata.

"Weapons lock established. Firing in three... two... one... now." As soon as he said this, the sound of several torpedoes being launched was heard on the bridge.

"Dropping out of warp and heading toward the Manhattan," helm officer looked at the viewscreen. The image of moving white lines quickly turned into stars, and the U.S.S. Manhattan, along with the voth Bulwark appeared on the screen. The Bulwark had taken a lot of damage, and was on the verge of shattering into pieces. Residues of quantum explosions were scattered all around the ship.

"Direct hit on the Bulwark," Solan's chuckle echoed throughout the bridge. "That's what twenty-one torpedoes flying at warp speed do to you," he said with a grin on his face. "They're disabled, captain."

"Well done, crew," Davit complimented the officers and crossed his legs. "Open a channel to Manhattan."

The comm officer nodded and an image of a human appeared on the viewscreen.

"Captain Boyle of the U.S.S. Manhattan," the human said as soon as he appeared. "You must be Admiral Davit. I could tell by your... grand entrance," he said, with a slight smirk.

"In flesh," Davit confirmed. "Thanks for responding to the distress call, captain. We're not sure we would've made it out alive without you."

"Let's not celebrate too soon," Boyle replied. "If I'm not mistaken, admiral, there are two Voth ships inbound to our location. One of them is a City Ship. I suggest we evacuate using the Slipstream."

"Negative, captain. Iveria won't be able to withstand the quantum stress. We'll need to make local repairs before we can go anywhere. That means, we'll have to take out anyone that will pose a threat to our safety here. The Voth City Ship has beamed U.S.S. Kro'tar and U.S.S Zagreb inside it. We have to get them out as well."

Captain Boyle nodded immediately. "Understood, admiral. We'll do all we can. R.R.W. Tva'las has responded to your distress call as well. They will be here in thirty minutes to assist with repairs, unfortunately Manhattan will have to be underway to Omicron Gamma station as soon as Iveria is safe. We have an urgent assignment."

"Captain, the pursuing Voth ships will be here in one minute," Lt. Solan got Davit's attention.

Davit nodded in response and looked at captain Boyle again. "We need you to provide protection for us, while we provide you with fire support and fighter squadrons. Iveria can not afford to take another serious hit."

"You can count on us, admiral," were the last words from the captain before he cut the communication.

Iveria's bridge crew seemed relieved, seeing that they had a chance now. "Prepare for battle," Davit announced to get some of the officers back to work. "Battle Plan Delta, stay within a kilometer of U.S.S. Manhattan. Launch all available squadrons and provide them with support."

"Sir, the primary launch bay has been depressurized during battle. I can only give you eight fighters from launch bays Two and Three, " the flight officer informed the captain. The problems never seemed to end...

" Good enough. Commander," the captain turned to T'laasa, "send all auxiliary power to structural integrity field. Transfer emergency power to shields and weapons, be ready to rotate shield frequency. Science, prepare the heavy graviton beam. Tactical, lock on the engines and weapons of the Palisade frigate and engage to disable. Overload the primary beam banks."

"The Voth will be here in fifteen seconds," a random ensign shouted out. No response came from Davit, only a slight glance at the ensign followed by a few taps on the console. Nobody knew how he was planning on taking on a nine kilometer long voth starship with critically damaged Iveria, which was a retrofitted Akira class starship, barely over four hundred and forty meters long, but they had no other choice.

"Ready to execute Battle Plan Delta, captain," Solan informed. "Five seconds until they arrive."

The bridge was overwhelmed with tension and anxiety. The five seconds seemed like an awfully long time to wait, some even counted down to one in whispers to get their attention on something else other than the coming battle. Only a few were looking calm as ever, including commander T'laasa, who, despite being one of the more "loose" Vulcans, was still a Vulcan.

The countdown stopped when two flashes of light appeared on the viewscreen, and two ships rocketed in from those flashes, halting a few hundred kilometers from the Iveria and the Manhattan. The smaller one of the two, the Palisade frigate, was only a few hundred meters in length, but very nimble. The larger one, the Citadel dreadnought, or the "city ship", as some referred to it, was over nine kilometers in length, boasting huge arsenal of weapons, advanced technology, and shielding that no sole Allied starship had broken through yet.

U.S.S. Manhattan jolted off the spot as soon as the Voth entered and began maneuvering close to them. The Iveria followed very closely, surrounded by eight Peregrine fighters.

"We're in weapons range captain," Solan said to Davit, "firing all weapons."

Just a second after this, two thick, dark red Antiproton beams left Iveria's hull and struck the Palisade, instantly knocking out its shields. The Manhattan started firing at the frigate as well, shooting it with several phaser beams at the same time. The first hit was theirs, but the battle was ahead.

The first shots were followed by hundreds more from both sides. Iveria rained volleys after volleys of torpedoes, Antiproton pulses and beams while staying behind Manhattan for cover. The Peregrine fighters executed fast hit and run attacks on the city ship, distracting some of its weapons while the Manhattan fired all facing phaser arrays, sometimes even six beams at the same time, followed by volleys of quantum torpedoes.

The Palisade had been disabled from the initial shots from the two Starfleet vessels, unable to fire or move. However, the city ship was very much fit for battle was taking all the shots fired at her without a problem. All the weapons fire she had taken did nothing but scratch the city ship's shields. In return, Iveria and Manhattan were being bombarded by dozens of Antiproton beams and turrets, occasionally with a mix of a torpedo volley or a dampening pulse.

The space lit up in different shades of red as phasers and Antiproton weapons were being fired.

"Admiral, we can't take much more of this!" Captain Boyle suddenly appeared on Iveria's viewscreen. "The Citadel is overpowering our defences!"

"Hang in there, captain!" Davit replied, "We need to disable this ship now or we'll lose thousands of officers in there. Iveria will break off formation and draw their fire, give you some breathing space," he said and cut communications.

"Captain, if we get hit a few more times, we won't survive!" Lt. Solan's shout was heard among the sounds of weapons fire, "I don't recommend this!"

"We have no choice, Lt. We'll initiate evasive maneuvers and and stay alive until..." the last word forced him to bite his lips...

"Until what, captain?" Solan's justified insistence, was annoying, but understandable.

"Just follow my orders, Lieutenant! Evasive maneuver Epsilon, maximum impulse!" Davit managed to change the subject this time, but he knew his officers wouldn't just forget this. He would have some explaining to do. "We're counting on you, Onischenko," he said to his helm officer.

"Aye," Solan buried his curiosity to keep focused... for now. But something was not right.

Iveria broke away from Manhattan and headed ninety degrees to the left. The Citadel didn't leave this unnoticed, firing several beams at her as soon as she broke formation. Two of the beams passed just a few meters away from Iveria's saucer and nacelles. The pure energy flowing through those beams shook the ship so wildly that a few officers were thrown out of their chairs. Most managed to keep their seats under themselves.

Iveria performed several stunts to dodge incoming fire while trying to get in position to fire back. One beam hit the fore shield as the ship was getting ready to fire another volley at the Citadel, sending a wave of tremors all over the ship. Davit held onto his seat, barely stopping himself from falling on the ground, and entered something on his tactical screen.

"Fire the heavy graviton beam at the designated coordinates!" he ordered Lt. Solan.

"Firing now!" Solan growled as a blue beam left the Iveria's deflector dish and impacted the Citadel. "No effect!"

"We need to hold out for about one more minute. Do we still have the transphasic cluster torpedo launcher?"

"Negative, we're out of ammo," Solan answered.

"Damn," Davit spouted, "well, give them everything you've got. I'll try diverting more power to shields." He put a new command in the screen on his chair. "There, that should give you a bit more durability."

"Sorry, captain, but we'll need way more than twenty percent. They can vaporise us in three shots," Solan killed Davit's hope of having a better chance at survival.

"Way to motivate us, Solan..." Ibelay grumbled, seeing another display of Solan's "professionalism". "Hold on, captain. I can jam their sensors from here."

"Do it. Pyotr," Davit switched his stare to Onischenko, "as soon as their sensors are jammed, get in one of their blindspots."

"Yes sir," the ensign replied, maintaining a brooding stare at the ship controls while frantically tapping it, trying to evade incoming fire.

A blue beam fired from Iveria's deflector at the Citadel rendered it unable to target Iveria or Manhattan for several seconds. Iveria quickly maneuvered on top of the ship, and into the known blindspot where the Citadel couldn't fire. Captain Boyle seemed to have the same plan, as the Manhattan flew in the same spot as Iveria, just a few dozen meters away. Iveria's fighters followed suit and flew close to the ship,.

Davit looked at the Manhattan closely on his viewscreen. The cruiser had taken a lot of damage, bearing several breaches on the hull and was leaking warp plasma. It amazed him how easily the city ship devastated two of the most advanced Starfleet ships in just a few minutes...

"Order the fighters to dock," he ordered the flight officer, "the battle will be over soon."

In a few seconds, the Citadel regained its targeting sensors and tried to fire at the starfleet vessels again. The Manhattan and Iveria managed to stay in the the blindspot, but they wouldn't last there for too long.

"They'll outmaneuver us soon!" Onischenko alarmed, seeing how quickly the city ship was gaining speed.

"Not soon enough," Davit stated calmly. The officers were startled by his indifferent demeanour, considering their critical situation, but they soon saw something even more unusual.

The city ship suddenly stopped all movement. Everyone on the bridge stared at the viewscreen in denial. What had just happened?

"They're... Powering down weapons," Solan's surprised voice broke silence. "Their shields are down too. What's going on?"

"All in due time, Lieutenant," Davit made their confusion even worse. "Tend to the injured and start repairs. Tell the transporter room to get ready. I'm beaming aboard their bridge." He rose from his chair.

Everyone seemed even more confused now.

"Captain!" Ibelay protested for the whole bridge. "What's going on?"

"As I said, all in due time," Davit replied with no intent to give away top secret information. "You have the bridge, T'laasa," he announced, "cancel red alert," he said before leaving for the transporter room, leaving everyone confused.

Two minutes later, he was on the bridge of the Citadel. The huge room was dark, with only emergency lighting and flashlights providing illumination. Starfleet officers were all over the place, having the Voth subdued and holding them at gunpoints. This was an unusual sight. They had just captured a fully operational, undamaged voth Citadel Dreadnought.

"Admiral," Davit was greeted by a familiar face, whom he barely recognised in the dark.

"Mr. Drake," he responded, "I think it's safe to say your plan worked."

"Indeed," Drake's face showed a sign of satisfaction. "On behalf of Section 31, I want to tell you that your efforts to protect the Federation will not be forgotten," he said and stood beside Davit.

"Tell that to those people's loved ones that just died on my ship," Davit replied in cold, vibrating voice.

"I understand how much this mission has cost you. But the outcome is that now we have the technology to disable and control voth dreadnoughts. This will save thousands of lives... on both sides of war."

Davit glanced at him, remembering why he had agreed to help with this mission in the first place. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," he sighed. "You won't believe how often I disagree with that."

"We're lucky you agreed with it this time," Drake signaled Davit to follow him and headed toward a tall Voth being held at gunpoint by a human. Davit followed him, and when he got close enough he recognised the Voth. It was the captain of the Citadel, the same person who was threatening to destroy his ship several minutes ago, now captured and humiliated. Being a fellow captain, Davit was disgusted by the fact the he actually found satisfaction in seeing this.

"I told you I would have to apprehend you with force," a smirk was etched on Davit's face as he savored the moment.

The Voth captain's glowering face looked at him from above. "What did you do?" the captain asked under his breath, admitting his defeat.

"Ask him," Davit nodded at Drake. Drake responded with just a nod in the direction of the turbolift, signaling the starfleet officer holding the Voth at gunpoint to take him out of the bridge.

"You will regret this!" the Voth groaned as he was rushed out.

"So, tell me," Davit looked at Drake, "how did you manage to sneak fifty Section 31 operatives as Starfleet officers on the same ship?"

Drake chuckled. "All in due time, Admiral."

"And that is why I don't like to deal with Section 31 and the Temporal Accord. Never a straight answer."

"But we get the job done," Drake replied, "how badly damaged is Iveria?"

"Let's just say the crew will get a few weeks off in the Sol system while the ship is being repaired," Davit paused. He knew that the deaths of his crewmen were on him, and for what? Capturing a single ship? He would have to change a few things in his style of command... "I'll need you to send us all the mission logs and results," he continued, "we'll make some quick repairs and leave in several hours."

"It's the least I can do. If you ever need someone to give you information you shouldn't have..."

"I'll contact you on secure channel Theta Omicron," Davit cut him off. "You've said this three times before, and I still haven't gotten any information I asked for," he chuckled. Drake let out a slight giggle as well.

"Our jobs are making sure we'll never be friends, huh?" Drake smiled.

"Glad it's that way," Davit replied, "you seem to have things under control. If you don't mind, I'll return to my ship and help with the repairs."

"Not at all, Admiral."

Davit didn't say anything in response. He wanted to spend as little time with Mr. Drake as he could. He tapped on his combadge on his chest, which in turn made a brief chirping noise.

"Iveria, one to beam up."

And Davit disappeared with a stream of blue particles around him. Drake's last words followed him:

"See you later..."


End file.
